St. Norbert Gets Clean Win at Lake Forest

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - St. Norbert College opened Midwest Conference action in 2009-10 with a clean 69-58 win over Lake Forest College at the LFC Sports Center.

The Green Knights, who committed just 11 fouls in the game, improved to 5-0 overall for the first time since the 1993-94 season. St. Norbert was able to overcome 38.3 percent shooting from the floor by not fouling, holding the Foresters (2-4, 0-1 MWC) to just nine free throw attempts. The Green Knights were also clean offensively, committing just six turnovers.

St. Norbert slowly built a lead in the first half, pulling ahead on a 3-pointer by Chris Peters for a 14-13 lead with 12 minutes 55 seconds left in the first half. The Green Knights would never trail again in the game, leading by as much as 10 points in the first half at 34-24 before settling on a 35-28 halftime lead.

The Foresters would trim the deficit to 35-32 before Dave Wipperfurth connected on consecutive 3-pointers for a 41-32 lead with 16:47 to go. Travis Clark scored for Lake Forest, but St. Norbert held the Foresters scoreless for the next five minutes and grabbed a 46-34 advantage following a basket by Steve Papke and another trey by Wipperfurth. Lake Forest would close to within 59-54 with 46 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Nate Bateman, but the Green Knights were 10-for-10 at the free-throw line the rest of the way to seal the game.

Wipperfurth led St. Norbert with 19 points, and connected on five 3-pointers. John Taylor added 17 points, and was a perfect 10-for-10 at the free-throw line. Peterson had 13 points with three 3s, and Papke added eight points and 11 rebounds. St. Norbert was 23-for-60 from the floor but was 10-for-22 (45.5 percent) from beyond the three-point arc.

Lake Forest shot 48.1 percent from the floor, making 25 of 52 shots, but was 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) on 3-pointers. Clark led the Foresters with 18 points and 12 rebounds.